By Alexandra Mansbach
Carrboro Commons Writer

Even the pouring rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of the women’s Carrboro High School soccer team on a recent game night.

Carrboro High School took on the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics on March 19 in a game riddled with rain, wind and power outages. But the team stayed strong, passing accurately and communicating clearly — eventually ending the game with a 1-1 tie in overtime. The Carrboro soccer squad appeared to be anything but a new team.

Coach Robin Bulleri talks to the Carrboro High School women’s soccer team during halftime of their March 19 game.
Staff photo by Alexandra Mansbach

“This is an entirely new program. The teams are actually very young,” said Scott Swartzwelder, president of the CHS Athletic Booster Club. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword.”

The newness of the program gives students who have little experience in sports a chance to play and, because there are no seniors at the school, no players will graduate at the end of this school year.

“There are lots of kids with little experience,” Swartzwelder said. “We’ve got some great athletes here, and a lot of these kids wouldn’t even get to play somewhere else.”

But the athletics program has faced some setbacks. The original athletic director became ill a few months into the school year, Swartzwelder said. But the new director, April Ross, has really stepped up to the plate.

“A new program with a new director is a challenge,” he said, adding that the program has transitioned relatively smoothly.

The women’s soccer team is one of the many teams at CHS that is enjoying a blossoming program. The team consists of nine freshman, three sophomores and six juniors — only a handful of which have varsity experience.

But things are going well for the young team.

“Things are good,” said Robin Bulleri, head coach of the CHS women’s soccer team. “We’re seven, two and one.”

Bulleri said she was able to work out most of the program’s difficulties in the summer and fall.

“Things are running pretty smoothly,” she said. “I coached the boys in the fall so we kind of worked the kinks out then.”

Bulleri held team tryouts for the girls, but no one was cut from the team. This gave younger players a chance to participate if they committed themselves.

The team also chose captains to hold leadership roles and support their teammates — something especially important because the team is so young.

“I let the kids vote. They needed to vote for a player who already had high school experience,” Bulleri said.

The captains are Vicky Aldana and Marshall Babcock, both juniors. Bulleri has known them both since their freshman years, and she is impressed with their leadership skills.

“They really are mature,” she said. “I can trust them with responsibilities.”

Parents also play a major role in keeping the athletics program at CHS up and running.

“We try to organize a team parent for each team to take tickets and work concessions,” Swartzwelder said.

He said parents have been very helpful in keeping the young program organized by volunteering and doing their best to help out.

“They’ve been really great with taking the initiative because the Booster is a really small group,” he said. “We really started at ground zero and are working our way up.”

Bulleri agreed, saying the parents of her team have really stepped up and helped out.

“All of the parents signed up to volunteer to take tickets and bring the kids snacks before games,” Bulleri said. “I communicate with them, and they communicate with me.”

Swartzwelder said the school’s administrators have also aided in the development of the program.

“The support we got from the principal, Jeff Thomas, was really wonderful. He has been very supportive of the sports programs.” Swartzwelder said.

He said Thomas wanted as many coaches as possible to be teachers at the school; something Swartzwelder said is very beneficial to the students.

“You want the coaches to have relationships with the players off the field too,” he said.

Bulleri, a science teacher at CHS, is happy to be head soccer coach. She is pleased with the team’s progress this season and hopes to continue growing as a team next year.

“We can keep improving on the things we need to fix,” she said. “But honestly, we’re off to a really great start.”